Mixed age nap time

[homeishere]

I have been running my home daycare since January, but have recently been having trouble at nap time and could use some advice. I have four kids on any given day, one being my own 26 month old son. Right now at nap time he is upstairs in his room (still in a crib), the 9 month old is in the pnp in the play room (I only have one big room so nap is in the playroom, but set up away from all the toys), the other two kids are on nap mats also in the playroom.

Recently the 9month old has been waking every 20 min with an ear piercing scream (actually her normal cry, but a happy baby so cries rarely) and of course waking the other toddlers/preschoolers who really need a good nap. I figured the obvious solution is to transition my son to a nap mat so that the baby can be in the crib upstairs (I have a video monitor so can see/hear her at all times) and hopefully take a long nap. She stopped taking am naps a few weeks ago but naps (with interruption) from 12:30 to 3:00 with the older kids.

My question is, how do I best transition my son to the nap mat?

I feel silly asking because I have had zero problems with my dck's using nap mats, even the 14 month old. I think because it is just how nap has been since their first day, so they went with it. The few times I have tried having my son in the playroom, he is so disruptive! Plays with lovey (got it taken away), plays with blanket, pillow, his own fingers, anything! Sings, talks, makes funny faces, then when he sees I'm not budging goes to full tantrum mode! After ten min I end up taking him back to his room so that everyone can get a good nap. I feel really obligated to make sure the dck's get a good nap each day, for my own sanity more than anything.

Anyone have any good tricks up their sleeves they are willing to share?

Thanks, and sorry this was so long winded!

[BrooklynM]

Oh, nap time- my favorite and least favorite time of the day. First of all, I would check with your state to see if you can have anyone even sleeping upstairs during daycare hours? If its not against licensing, just make sure you could get all of the kids out quickly in case of a fire. As for transitioning to a nap mat, that age is tough. I have had luck with laying down besides them for the first few minutes of nap time, then sneaking off... If you have multiple kids in the room, I would see if you can have dividers between them so they don't see each other and keep each other awake. I also use a white noise machine to drown out some of the noises.

[Thriftylady]

Would it be possible to put dck in pack and play in another room on the normal floor?

[Rachel]

So my son is just now 24 months and he always slept with the group (because his room is upstairs and against regulations to have him upstairs while I am up with the dck on the main level).

Sorry I don't bring better news, but when he was about 13 months I went through a huge issue to train him to sleep on a mat. Took a week or 2 but he did get it. Then he was fine for a few months and started having issues again when he was about 22 months old. Because it was the end of the year and anyway he's going to be leaving next year to another program (they can't be home when they are 2 here), they allowed me to let him sleep in his room. I just found he couldn't be part of the group and also know he was home. If your son toddler is sleeping well alone I would leave it and figure out how to let the other child sleep without causing an issue. Also I don't care if my toddlers get woken up. They learn to stay on the mat during nap anyway and 90% of the time they fall back asleep.

[Play Care]

When my kids were little and still napped, I refused to put them on nap mats. IMO, every job has it's perks and one of mine was that my kids got to nap in their own beds. Aside from that my older dd was somewhat headstrong and I knew what would happen if I tried to nap her with the group... As it was she had dropped nap by 2 1/2, so I feel I got more mileage out of her napping alone in her room. No one cared or complained or thought it was unfair.
What I did to stay in regs was to have my upstairs rooms approved for napping. I had to submit an emergency exit plan, have licensing in and a fire marshal to inspect. So what I do is have the "good" nappers in my guest room on mats. The not so great nappers are in PNP's in another room (so mostly everyone is in one room and one other kid is in a different one) Frankly it worked so well that I've kept it up even though my own kids are no longer in the dc. My home is a newer build so the downstairs is mostly windows - a few shades would not cut it. Upstairs is already equipped with blackout shades, white noise, etc.
Just another possibility.

[Leigh]

Originally Posted by homeishere

I have been running my home daycare since January, but have recently been having trouble at nap time and could use some advice. I have four kids on any given day, one being my own 26 month old son. Right now at nap time he is upstairs in his room (still in a crib), the 9 month old is in the pnp in the play room (I only have one big room so nap is in the playroom, but set up away from all the toys), the other two kids are on nap mats also in the playroom.

Recently the 9month old has been waking every 20 min with an ear piercing scream (actually her normal cry, but a happy baby so cries rarely) and of course waking the other toddlers/preschoolers who really need a good nap. I figured the obvious solution is to transition my son to a nap mat so that the baby can be in the crib upstairs (I have a video monitor so can see/hear her at all times) and hopefully take a long nap. She stopped taking am naps a few weeks ago but naps (with interruption) from 12:30 to 3:00 with the older kids.

My question is, how do I best transition my son to the nap mat?

I feel silly asking because I have had zero problems with my dck's using nap mats, even the 14 month old. I think because it is just how nap has been since their first day, so they went with it. The few times I have tried having my son in the playroom, he is so disruptive! Plays with lovey (got it taken away), plays with blanket, pillow, his own fingers, anything! Sings, talks, makes funny faces, then when he sees I'm not budging goes to full tantrum mode! After ten min I end up taking him back to his room so that everyone can get a good nap. I feel really obligated to make sure the dck's get a good nap each day, for my own sanity more than anything.

Anyone have any good tricks up their sleeves they are willing to share?

Thanks, and sorry this was so long winded!

It is recommended for kids to keep AM nap until around 18 months. Perhaps the reason for the screaming is that she is overtired? She recently started the screaming AND she recently stopped AM nap. I can't imagine a 9 month old being ready to stop AM naps, personally. Usually around 15-18 months is when I see it happen.

I found that it is harder to deal with my own child on things like nap-kids are more willing to challenge their own parents than another person. I let mine sleep in his own room, too...no reason to move him to the nap room at my house. I use cots at my house, and find that they provide more of a boundary for kids (they can't roll around like on a mat), and that they are easier to use for moving kids from crib to "big kid" naptime. Perhaps you should try a cot? I just plan on spending the first few days in the nap room with the new kid until he/she gets used to going to sleep with the others (and my current group just conks out instantly (may this never change!).